China Life AMP Asset Management CEO Change: Equity Performance and Internal Control Review

Blue Whale News June 29 (Reporter Qi Hezhong) The CEO of insurance-backed fund company China Life AMP Asset Management has changed.

On June 23, the company announced that CEO E Hua left due to work arrangements, and Liu Zhongjiang succeeded as CEO. Liu previously served as General Manager of the Direct Investment Department and General Manager of the Fixed Income Investment Department of major shareholder China Life.

E Hua served as CEO since January 2023, for about three years and five months. Before becoming CEO of China Life AMP, he was General Manager of the Equity Investment Department of China Life.

On the company's homepage, the slogan is: 'Staying true to 12 years of original intention, repaying every trust.' However, the company's actual business performance over the past three years has been less than ideal. As of end-Q1, the company's non-monetary fund scale was 181.8 billion yuan, ranking 30th in the industry. Fund types are dominated by bond funds, with equity funds accounting for a small portion: about 10 billion yuan in equity funds and about 5.6 billion yuan in hybrid funds.

As former head of China Life's equity department, during E Hua's more than three years as CEO, equity fund scale generally did not rise but fell. Specifically, hybrid fund scale dropped by 50%.

During E Hua's tenure, not only did the performance and scale of China Life AMP's equity funds suffer, but the company's internal controls also showed significant vulnerabilities. In August 2025, according to an administrative penalty document from the Tianjin Securities Regulatory Bureau, fund manager Li Dan was penalized for 'rat trading.' Earlier, in December 2023, according to an administrative penalty from the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau, Hu Wenbiao, General Manager of the Special Account Investment Department, was penalized for illegal stock trading and market manipulation.

Despite these issues, E Hua returned to the major shareholder and received further promotion. It is understood that in the daily work of China Life AMP, excessive meetings and documents are a serious problem. In the performance appraisal system, the requirement to make money for fund holders was not given due weight, deviating significantly from the CSRC's high-quality development requirements.

Over the past three years, the major shareholder has sent many people to the company, occupying important positions, while the difficult work has been mainly handled by market hires. This has significantly reduced the company's marketization level, leading to severe deficiencies in research, investment, and sales capabilities.

Change in Marketization: From 'Dare to Insist on Principles' to 'Filter Shattered'

Before 2023, China Life AMP was not like this; at that time, the company had a relatively high degree of marketization. The company's first CEO, Zuo Jiqing, was more willing to adhere to principles and maintain corporate governance.

China Life AMP was founded in October 2013, established and created by Zuo Jiqing (former General Manager of China Life Asset Management's Fixed Income Department) and Shen Mengyu (former Deputy General Manager (acting) of the Risk Management and Compliance Department).

After its establishment, China Life AMP grew from scratch over 10 years into a medium-sized fund company. By end-2022, the company's non-monetary fund scale was 128.5 billion yuan, ranking 31st in the industry, with about 7.6 billion yuan in equity funds and about 12.8 billion yuan in hybrid funds.

At that time, the company had high requirements for professionalism, and the management team was mainly recruited from the market, with strong competitiveness.

However, after the company grew its asset scale, some within the major shareholder began to covet important positions, demanding them through appointments. Zuo Jiqing was unwilling to comply with such unreasonable demands and faced great pressure.

In January 2023, CEO Zuo Jiqing, Compliance Officer Shen Mengyu, and Fixed Income Investment Director Dong Ruiqian resigned for 'personal reasons.' After Changning State-owned Assets took over Chunhou Fund, in January 2026, Zuo Jiqing and Shen Mengyu became CEO and Deputy General Manager of Chunhou Fund, respectively.

Governance and Business Reflection: From Formalism to Performance-Driven Returns

Over the past three years, the filter of China Life AMP has shattered. E Hua and others realized their butterfly dreams, while the founding generation like Zuo Jiqing and Shen Mengyu experienced a phoenix-like rebirth.

In the story of Zhuang Zhou's dream of a butterfly, Zhuang Zhou dreamed he became a butterfly, feeling great joy. Upon waking, he found himself clearly Zhuang Zhou. Zhuang Zhou became a great sage because he could clearly know he was Zhuang Zhou after waking, the flying wings borrowed from the butterfly.

In real life, some people cannot distinguish between dream and reality. Some state-owned enterprise cadres, after years of serving in enterprises, still cannot transform into competent business operators, living long in a butterfly dream, preferring to be drunk and not awake.

We sincerely hope that China Life AMP will earnestly study and understand the essence of 'development is the absolute principle,' focus on business operations, speak through performance, and not fall into the quagmire of formalism—lazy in action despite talking a lot. The company should quickly return to a market-oriented and international development track, eliminate formalism, and avoid backsliding that deceives both superiors and subordinates, missing valuable development opportunities. The management should genuinely focus on work, ensuring the value preservation and appreciation of state-owned capital invested by the major shareholder and helping fund holders achieve good returns.